Disappointing Incident in Gun Store

[cdk8]

It's people like that who do a great job in helping gun control advocates undermine our 2A rights. The husband, the clerk, and that chick are literally everything the Brady Campaign could ever wish for, and then some.

Safety is everyone's business, and if someone does not practice gun safety even when the gun is NOT loaded, that can easily transfer over to live-fire exercises, which is a great way for someone to wind up dead from a ND. That's why we have the treat all guns as loaded rule.

The individual holding the firearm was not practicing gun safety and that is all of our business because it threatens our safety and our gun rights...not to mention there is no way for us to know whether or not a gun is loaded regardless whether this is at a range or a show. Obviously, it's worth being as polite as possible, but someone does need to intervene and I think you did the right thing. The people working at the store have a moral obligation here and the clerk should have spoken up, IMO.

 

[cdk8]

I've seen this behavior in stores and while it can be a bit off putting, I don't see it as a huge deal. We're talking about guns that have never been shot (except maybe once at the factory) and/or have been compulsively checked rechecked and checked again for good measure before being put on the rack.

Personally it just feels wrong to point a gun in an unsafe direction to me even at a store, but I don't really feel the need to correct others behavior in this setting.

I get what you are saying in that it is extremely unlikely that the firearm is loaded, but I have to disagree because there is just no way for me to know 100% whether or not that gun is loaded. If someone is engaging in the extremely unsafe behavior of pointing a firearm muzzle in the direction of a person and dry firing, this a red flag to me that they lack competency in gun safety or are negligent. Because of that lack of competency and/or negligence, a series of dumb actions could, in extremely rare cases, set the stage for a ND. And if the individual is willing to break (or does not understand) one of the golden rules, they could just easily break others, IMHO...

 

[njl]

Poor gun handling practices/manners are always worth correcting. Sure, you may get dirty looks, made fun of, called anal or worse, but nobody likes having a gun pointed (or especially dry fired) at them, even if it's "probably" empty. It may be the person is new to guns and just hasn't considered "I know it's not loaded, but how does he know it's not loaded?"

A long time ago, I was that guy. I was relatively new to shooting and put my Glock (unloaded, trigger back, in the tupperware) on the shooting bench. When I opened the tupperware, the muzzle was pointing 90* off from downrange, i.e. it was pointing to my right, toward another guy at the firing line with me (long benches, outdoor range). He yelled "MUZZLE!" At the time I thought he was overreacting and was thinking "What?...its in the box. I never put it in there loaded, much less chambered. I wasn't even touching it." What hadn't occurred to me before then was "How does he know it's not loaded? How does he know I'm not going to send a bullet his way in the process of picking it up from the tupperware?"

So, my point is, that one correction, was all it took for me to "get it". Go on correcting people. It may eventually save someone.

 

[EIB0879]

I had a similar incident at a gun range. Indoor rifle range with no RSO and I see a laser printing on the wall directly to my right front. Still technically down range but barely.

 

[mdauben]

I think some if you are looking at this the entirely wrong way. No one thinks that a brand new gin that has been cleared by the clerk before handing it to the customer will suddenly have cartridges in it. The idea is that you want to develop the reflexes and habit of NEVER pointing ANY gun at ANYONE you don't intend to shoot. It's developing that ingrained safety by always treating any firearm like it's loaded.

 

[Sam1911]

No one thinks that a brand new gin that has been cleared by the clerk before handing it to the customer will suddenly have cartridges in it.

However it is worth reminding yourself that almost none of the guns you see in a store's display counter JUST came out of the box. Most have been there for weeks or months getting fooled with by plenty of "whomevers" that stop in.

As many gun shop clerks (and gun show booth attendants) will tell you, it is NOT unheard of to find a round in the chamber of a "brand new" gun that folks have been handling. How and why that ended up happening is always a mystery to those who discover it, but it DOES happen.


So for so many reasons, GUN SAFETY MATTERS. The rules ALWAYS apply, and they should be explained carefully and consistently to anyone who is observed violating one, no matter who, when, or where.

 

[Texgun]

The only time I observed something similar was when this fellow kept pointing out 2 or 3 people in a LGS to stop pointing the gun at him as they were looking at it. I started watching after this guy made a big show of it with the first customer, with a gun store employee having, of course, checked for clear.

Obviously we all know about the "no pointing" rule, but this guy was moving around so as to get in line of site of the pistol being held. He obviously was just trying to, supposedly, impress on everyone in the store how knowledgable he was about guns and draw attention to himself.

Another clerk noticed the same thing, and told the guy lecturing everyone to leave.

 

[Zaydok Allen]

One tactic I have used in the past when observing said behavior is to approach the counter NEAR where they are pointing the gun, and stand their awkwardly looking uncomfortable like I really want to see something under the counter. Then when they see me and give me a puzzled look as I am looking at them, I say

"Are you good? Sorry I just wanted to look at something in this case, but didn't want to walk in front of the muzzle of that gun."

Typically the clerk chimes in when he realizes a customer has noticed an unsafe situation and says "Yeah, why don't you point it up here." indicating something high on the wall. Or I hear another member of the handling party say "Yeah, be careful where you point that."

I know it's a bit passive, but it gets the point across in a non-preachy way, and people don't curse at me then. Usually the person being foolish looks a little embarrassed, which means the point was taken I think. I have done this even when there is nothing in that counter I want to see, just to make the point.

Just how I handle it. Most strangers don't like being told what to do and not do by a stranger, even when they are really screwing up.

 

[RetiredUSNChief]

The only time I observed something similar was when this fellow kept pointing out 2 or 3 people in a LGS to stop pointing the gun at him as they were looking at it. I started watching after this guy made a big show of it with the first customer, with a gun store employee having, of course, checked for clear.

Obviously we all know about the "no pointing" rule, but this guy was moving around so as to get in line of site of the pistol being held. He obviously was just trying to, supposedly, impress on everyone in the store how knowledgable he was about guns and draw attention to himself.

Another clerk noticed the same thing, and told the guy lecturing everyone to leave.

THAT is totally idiotic.

Part of gun safety is not putting oneself in the way of the guns. Intentionally doing so? Holy cow...